Richard Jefferies Museum (@rjmuseum) — Bluesky Profile

2 days ago

We are still trying to raise funds for the initial phases of the Centre for Arts and Wildlife. Please donate if you can!
www.richardjefferies.org/caw

#charity #fundraising #weather

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2 days ago

'Misleading weather apps can cost attractions up to £137k a day' Chester Zoo is leading a call for a change in the way

We obviously aren't losing £137k a day when the forecast is poor... BUT it does highlight one of our big issues here at the museum as most of our usable space is outdoors, and why we desperately need a new building!

'Misleading weather apps cost attractions thousands'
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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2 days ago

A little head made out of soil / compost, with seedlings for hair, and little stones for ears and teeth. This little character is smiling!

What an utterly brilliant sculpture one of our volunteers, Freddie, made this week. 🤯

It could definitely do with a name, don't you think?

#NameTheHead #art #volunteers #spontaneity #sculpture

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5 days ago

Close-up side view of the white flowers from the blackthorn, a UK native plant.

Another view of the white flowers from the blackthorn, a UK native plant, on a sunny day.

Spring is springing. 🌼

"The blackthorn is perhaps the first conspicuous flower..."
Wild Life in a Southern County

#TimelineCleanse #BloomScrolling

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1 week ago

..., and give their artist freedom to paint to fancy, for it is Nature's imagination which delights us—as I tried to explain about the tree, the imagination, and not the fact of the timber and sticks."
The Open Air

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1 week ago

A number of families sitting at benches and under trees in the 'copse' area of the museum grounds.

What a beautiful day to be outside!

#Spring #NatureTots #Outdoors

"Those, therefore, who really wish their gardens or grounds, or any place, beautiful, must get that greatest of geniuses, Nature, to help them...

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1 week ago

Diggers and other bright yellow industrial equipment parked by the roadside, with two workers in high visibility clothing in the background.

Props to Swindon Borough Council for turning up as scheduled to remove the large sign blocking motorists' view of our lovely museum and preparing to add a new pedestrian walkway, plus a dropped kerb to serve our side entrance!

@swindoncouncil.bsky.social @jimrobbins.bsky.social

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2 weeks ago

Two extremely tiny white mushrooms growing on a dead branch. In the background is an old tray with partitions that we use at Nature Tots for storing garden discoveries.

Ferns and their bright yellow (orange?) spores!

This is why #NatureIsAwesome.

Nature Tots is back this morning!

richardjefferiesmuseum.sumupstore.com/product/natu...

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2 weeks ago

Richard Jefferies Museum (@richardjefferiesmuseum@gram.social) 2 Posts, 5 Following, 0 Followers · Small community run museum and gardens at the birthplace of Victorian naturalist and author Richard Jefferies in Swindon, Wiltshire.We are very excited about comple...

We've set up a new #Pixelfed profile dedicated to photos from our 'grand design' — beautiful, more accessible gardens and a new #community #building.

Highlights will be featured on our other channels, but if you'd like to see everything, follow us over there!

gram.social/richardjeffe...

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3 weeks ago

A seed snail (cardboard and compost wrapped in a spiral), sitting on a cardboard sign saying as such.

A small hand, holding a wooden spoon, spreading compost onto a plastic strip that is used in making seed snails.

Two children scooping and spreading compost onto plastic sheeting, an esential step in making seed snails.

It's the last couple of days of the #FestivalOfTomorrow and we're at STEAM, making seed snails.

It's been great to see so many families engaging in the activities on offer from so many different groups.

#community #science #Swindon

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3 weeks ago

A toddler's wellie boots and flowery coat are seen with the toddler using a stick to write in the very muddy ground.

Big, big appreciation to our Nature Tots/Kids families for removing muddy footwear when entering the museum - it really helps to keep the museum clean!

#KeepYourMuseumClean #mud #toddlers #ToddlerLife

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3 weeks ago

A small red backpack with printed images of cars, traffic lights, and lorries.

Someone's left a bag at the museum, get in touch if it's yours.

#LostAndFound #Swindon #NatureTots

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1 month ago

Centre for Arts and Wildlife Our big plan for the future, is the addition of a new cultural space on our site - a small hall complete with modern kitchen, multi-purpose fittings, café facilities, and accessible toilets, all to he...

If you're able to help us raise funds for our ambitious plans, you can donate here: www.justgiving.com/campaign/rjcaw

Thank you - any amount you can spare helps!

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1 month ago

Million-pound museum could be coming to town as plans revealed A new centre in Swindon celebrating arts and wildlife could become a reality.

The museum's faithful friend, Royston Cartwright, has called our attention to the fact that the museum and our grand design has made the local paper!

www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/2584680...

#Fundraising #FundraisingFriday #Swindon #Arts #Wildlife #Community

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1 month ago

A small clump of snowdrops viewed from above.

Pink hellebores in the flowerbed in front of the cottage.

A lone daffodil blooms proudly under the holm oak.

Periwinkles next to the kitchen (staff) door.

"Before I had any conscious thought it was a delight to me to find wild flowers, just to see them."
The Open Air

#WildflowerWednesday #BloomScrolling

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1 month ago

Nature Tots is an outdoor group with a focus on nature and all its bountiful gifts - come dressed for the weather and sensory play (i.e. mess)!

Book 5 separate dates in a single purchase and every child gets a free cupcake and drink, as does one accompanying adult (they can have a grown up cake).

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1 month ago

A toddler looks out of a window of the museum's first floor, peering at families playing in the gardens below. The window is covered with a semitransparent film, detailing what the gardens may have looked like in Richard Jefferies' childhood.

When the children go back to school after half-term, the museum's stay and play group reverts to its 0-5 focus with Nature Tots.

richardjefferiesmuseum.sumupstore.com/product/natu...

#nature #toddlers #ToddlerLife #InvitationsToPlay

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1 month ago

Sarah Perry receives 'inspirational' award at Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year A LAKE DISTRICT athlete has received a prestigious award at the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards 2025.

Fun fact: Sarah Perry got her ultra marathon start at the museum's 24/100 challenge, back in the day.

Congratulations on the award!

Sarah Perry receives 'inspirational' award at Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year
uk.news.yahoo.com/sarah-perry-...

#running #ultra

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1 month ago

Home

We are very much looking forward to being at STEAM this half-term as part of the Festival of Tomorrow, celebrating Richard Jefferies and nature with a gardening-friendly 'experiment'.

Plus we get to be inside a brain?! 🧠

www.festivaloftomorrow.com

#Swindon #science #nature

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1 month ago

#LichenSubscribe

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1 month ago

"How happy the trees must be to hear the song of birds again in their branches! After the silence and the leaflessness, to have the birds back once more and to feel them busy at the nest-building; how glad to give them the moss and fibres and the crutch of the boughs to build in!"
Field and Hedgerow

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1 month ago

Possibly Mouse-tail moss (Isothecium myosuroides), growing on a cut branch on the ground in the den at the end of the lower garden.

Possibly wood Bristle-moss (Lewinskya affinis), on a branch in the orchard.

... and now for some very lovely moss!

#nature #moss

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1 month ago

Youth Grants A £500 Grow Wild grant to bring your nature project to life.

"Are you aged 16–25 and live in the UK? Apply for a £500 Grow Wild grant to bring your nature project to life this summer!"

growwild.kew.org/Youth-Grants

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1 month ago

Thank you!

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1 month ago

Mushroom / fungus fruiting bodies, photographed while wandering around the museum gardens' den area. The photographer is not an expert and relies on Internet searches to identify fungi - do not consume any fungi if you aren't absolutely sure what it is! This appears to be white brain jelly fungus (Exidia thuretiana), a small amount growing on a rotting bough on the ground.

One of our volunteers gets inexplicably excited when spotting fungi, all the while developing no expertise on the subject.

Next time you're out on a walk, look on the ground or in the trees - you never know what you might find!

#nature #mushrooms #fungi #FungiFriday

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1 month ago

A freshly-muddied seat cushion, located inside the library room of the museum.

A gentle reminder to *please* remove your toddler's footwear when entering the museum if they have been outside, enjoying the muddy areas of the gardens.

#KeepYourMuseumClean

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1 month ago

"These children in their turn go through the same open-air training."
The Open Air

- Nature Kids sessions run on Tuesday 17th February and Thursday 19th February from 10.30am-12pm during the school holidays.
- Additional child tickets can only be booked with One child tickets.

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1 month ago

Be like these children, running and interacting with people in the Richard Jefferies Museum's gardens...

Nature Kids for 0-11 is a stay and play session with a difference. We are an outdoor group with a focus on nature and all its bountiful gifts - come dressed for the weather and sensory play (i.e. mess)!

richardjefferiesmuseum.sumupstore.com/product/natu...

#halfterm #halftermfun #Swindon

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1 month ago

Apply for a grant - Gardening With Disabilities Trust Raised beds, access ramps, modified tools and more....all these are ways which we've helped gardeners with disabilities get back into their gardens...

And we have just found a grant programme to help disabled gardeners back into gardening. If you fit the bill, you can apply here: www.gardeningwithdisabilitiestrust.org.uk/apply-for-a-...

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1 month ago

A collage of two photos to give a bit of context to our call for gardening volunteers. Geoff, a long time volunteer, is photographed filling a wheelbarrow with sand, which is helping to prepare the ground on one side of the area for a new greenhouse, which was funded by a lovely donor. Another photo is of the former pigsty, which has lately housed hens. Currently 'unoccupied', the space that held the coop has now been cleared and bricks laid to protect a new coop from rat incursion and mud during the winter months. The period bricks were also donated. We have very kind donors!

Friends! We are going all in on our garden project. We now need more volunteers to help us every Monday — no experience necessary, just come at 10am, be dressed to work outdoors, and steel yourself for lots of tea drinking, too!

Contact us for more information.
www.richardjefferies.org/contact

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